fleet had an extremely difficult crossing . battered by storms and high seas , the first ships of the fleet did not arrive at cape fear until april 18 , and cornwall ##is did not arrive until may 3 . after several weeks there , in which the british troops raided patriot properties , clinton , cornwall ##is and parker concluded that cape fear was not a suitable base for further operations . parker had sent out some ships on scouting expeditions up and down the coast , and reports on the partially finished condition of the charleston defenses were sufficiently promising that the decision was made to go there . = = = american defenses = = = john ru ##tled ##ge , recently elected president of
fleet had an extremely difficult crossing. battered by storms and high seas, the first ships of the fleet did not arrive at cape fear until april 18, and cornwallis did not arrive until may 3. after several weeks there, in which the british troops raided patriot properties, clinton, cornwallis and parker concluded that cape fear was not a suitable base for further operations. parker had sent out some ships on scouting expeditions up and down the coast, and reports on the partially finished condition of the charleston defenses were sufficiently promising that the decision was made to go there. = = = american defenses = = = john rutledge, recently elected president of